Secrecy and Security News

May 2007

NIC sponsors wiki on global disease by Patience Wait, Government Computer News, May 31. "At the invitation of the National Intelligence Council, a group of graduate students attending Mercyhurst Collegeís Institute for Intelligence Studies has used their Strategic Intelligence class project to support and supplement the councilís work on global disease."

LANL: Archive policies haven't changed by Roger Snodgrass, Los Alamos Monitor, May 31. "Harvard University graduate student Alex Wellerstein is working on a dissertation on nuclear secrecy, 1939-2005. If he extends his field of study by two years to 2007, he could include some of his own recent experiences."

Rules lacking over access to executive branch info by Aliya Sternstein, Government Executive, May 31. "No laws have been established to help Congress obtain internal information, including e-mails, from the executive branch -- and that may not be a bad thing according to some open government advocates and a recent Congressional Research Service report."

Intelligence bill's 'earmarks' no longer secret by Richard Willing, USA Today, May 25. "Budget changes have made public for the first time nearly $100 million in special intelligence projects being pushed by individual members of the House of Representatives ó and touched off a spat about whether the largest of the projects is wasteful."

Libby Trial Judge Joins Secret FISA Court by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, May 24. "The judge who presided over the trial of vice presidential aide Lewis Libby has been appointed to the secret court that oversees U.S. intelligence wiretaps."

Senate panel approves intelligence authorization measure by Andrew Noyes, National Journal's Technology Daily, May 24. "The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday approved its fiscal 2008 authorization bill, which would grant more flexibility and authority to the national intelligence director while requiring greater accountability from the intelligence community."

Another Surveillance Program or a Lie? by Laura McGann, TPM Muckraker, May 22. "Either James Comey was talking about a new, secret surveillance program in his testimony last week, or Alberto Gonzales lied to Congress in 2006 about the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program."

GAO: Yearlong Wait for Security Clearances, United Press International, May 18. "A report published Thursday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that government contractors eligible for top security clearances had to wait an average of a year to start their work, and this delay has potential repercussions."

AIPAC Pays for Legal Fees by Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 18. "AIPAC has agreed to pay legal fees for a former staffer who is accused of receiving and relaying classified information on Iran, the latest blow to the prosecution's efforts to isolate the defendants."

Silencing Soldiers by Bennett Gordon, UTNE Reader, May 10. "When the US Army released its new Operational Security regulations in April, a deeply engrained tension between military security and public information was on full display. According to the new regulations, Army personnel should not 'publicly reference, disseminate, or publish' information in emails, letters, or blogs without checking with a superior first."

Army Threatens Critic Over Blog Policy by Justin Rood, ABC News The Blotter, May 9. "The U.S. Army has apparently threatened a government secrecy expert for posting online a new unclassified Army policy document, just days after he was quoted criticizing the policy itself as 'outrageous'."

Curbs on satellite photos may be needed by Katherine Shrader, Associated Press, May 8. "The director of a little-known U.S. spy agency that analyzes imagery from the skies says that the increasing availability of commercial satellite photos may require the government to restrict distribution."

Put Steven Aftergood in the Brig by Gabriel Schoenfeld, Contentions (Commentary Magazine), May 8. "The men and women who are defending our country, whether in the field or in the Pentagon, deserve our gratitude and respect. But sometimes the U.S. Army does things that are wrong, and sometimes it does things that are dumb."

No secret: Los Alamos blocks research by Roger Snodgrass, Los Alamos Monitor, May 4. "Secrecy News reported Thursday that Los Alamos National Laboratory has denied access to a Harvard researcher who was investigating the history of nuclear secrecy."

Army Clarifies Blogging Policy by Jason Miller, Federal Computer Week, May 4. "The Army is backing off its regulation restricting the ability of servicemen and -women, their families and contractors to blog."

Army to Bloggers: We Won't Bust You. Promise. by Noah Shachtman, Danger Room, May 3. "The Army appears to be backing away from new regulations that require soldiers get their approval from their bosses before they blog and send e-mail."

Is This What the Army Thinks of Us? by Paul McLeary, CJR Daily, May 3. "It looks like it's official: the United States Army thinks that American reporters are a threat to national security."

JPL Scientists Oppose Implementation of HSPD-12 Identification Requirement, letter to Congress, April 26. "We and our colleagues at JPL have found that this order, which is merely intended to establish a common standard of identification for access to federal facilities, is being used to gather extensive personal information about employees, including fingerprints, racial, ethnic, financial and medical information."

Army Squeezes Soldier Blogs, Maybe to Death by Noah Shachtman, Wired, May 2. "The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say."